Hi friends, 

Do you have too much month at the end of your money? In your family, is contentment more elusive than a nagging anxiety over your finances? Do you switch the conversation when a friend begins talking about being prepared for retirement?

If you've answered yes to most of the above questions, then you are in good company. A study on NAD ministerial families, released last month by Andrews University and Southern Adventist University, reported more than 70 percent of the participants experience financial insecurity as the top stressor in their ministerial homes.  

In preparation for writing on this issue's theme, family finances, I found myself resonating more with titles like Personal Finance for Dummies than the other blow-horn ones like Think and Grow Rich and The One Minute Millionaire (right!). Read more.

Desiree Bryant shares the story of her mother's triumph, amidst severe financial challenges and racial unrest, to give the gift that keeps giving to her three daughters.   

Desiree, who serves as an associate superintendent of education in the Potomac Conference of SDAs, lives in Laurel, Maryland, with her husband, Pastor G. Alexander Bryant, NAD executive secretary. They have three sons: Travis, Traven, and Terrance, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. Watch here. 

When my brother, Dannie, and I were growing up, our dad was a school teacher. He got paid once a month, and sometimes the money just barely made it to the end of the month. You could tell which months those were by what we ate. Suppers would be soup and crackers, and lunches at school would be just a bean and pickle sandwich or a cream cheese sandwich with peanuts. Both were good, but the bean sandwich was very messy.

One evening, my parents were talking to each other, and Dad said, "We have no more money and we have a week to go before payday." Read more.

We welcome your proven parenting tips, family worship ideas, financial tips (low budget anything!), family management ideas and decluttering strategies. Submit your ideas here.

In a few weeks, the Internal Revenue Service will be looking for your tax return. Don't forget to file; and remember, you do not want to be audited either. Fill out the forms with the best counsel possible. 

Here is one reason you need to be careful in filling out your tax return, if you're married to an ordained minister of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Under the Federal Income Contribution Act, known as FICA code, clergy are excluded from the normal FICA definition of an employee but, instead, are included under Self-Employment Compensation Act, SECA. A SDA clergy is an employee but, at the same time, treated as self-employed for Social Security taxes. This has to do with the requirement to make quarterly payments into Social Security. Social Security tax is not withheld from the pay of clergy as done for regular employees. On the income tax side, the IRS allows self-employed clergy the parsonage exclusion that a regular employee does not qualify for. 

What are some resources a pastor who is treated as self-employed can use for filing? Tom Wetmore is from the Office of General Counsel at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and specializes in tax issues. I asked him for a list of his favorite resource recommendations on tax preparation for clergy. Read more.

Question: My pastor/spouse wants me to go find a job so we can pay off our college and seminary loans. The problem is that our two sons are three years old and one-and-a-half years old. I always dreamed of staying home with my children until they began school. I do agree with my spouse that it is hard to live off one salary, especially in our high-cost living area, but I don't want to leave our boys with a babysitter or at a daycare center. What do you recommend? --Happy-at-home ministry spouse  Read more. 

Click here to submit questions to the counselors, Carolann and César De León.

Carol Barnhurst pulls a wisp of brown hair back from her forehead, asks the youth director about his ski wipeout, and tosses her van keys to a parent. Beside her are four coolers brimming with breads, granola bars and fruit. She could have stayed home this weekend; instead, she's been up since 5:00 a.m. making pancakes for a crowd, has braved outdoor wind-chill factors diving well below zero, and slept on a camp bed. 

Carol, a teacher and pastor's wife from Collinsville, Illinois, has led groups of young skiers to Michigan since 1990. But it's not the powder or vertical slopes which draw her. She no longer even has children of her own in the event. And it's not for the skiing. Carol says if it was just for the skiing, the event would have died long ago. "It's about leading youth to Jesus," she says of the ministry which features one-third raw fun, two-thirds relationships and 100 percent Jesus. "It's a recipe for youth to see Jesus through the Word," Carol continues. "It's a safe place; it's okay to have fun here." Read more.

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Your ministry exploits will inspire other ministerial spouses. Please share them.

Retreats for ministerial spouses often offer the fellowship, enrichment, mentoring and support many desire. We invite you to read the following stories and view photos from two special weekends, which will give you glimpses into the blessings that can be obtained at the retreats. 

Andrews University Seminary Spouses in Ministry Retreat

Michigan Conference Ministry Wives Sleepover

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In each issue, we will feature stories and photos from events that take place in the Division. Please submit your stories and photos here.